True Story Behind One Of WWE's Darkest Days
Readers of a certain political persuasion may roll their eyes at this diatribe. It's just business, they might say, as if they're knowledgeable investment bankers and not wank-happy 4Chan sociopaths. To survive, one must be ruthless.
WWE did not have to be ruthless, and it is ruthless, because there is nowhere else for these people to work. The absolute state of that, by the way:
Old Paradigm: Several new moneyed places in which to work; no releases permitted.
New Paradigm: Nowhere else to go; don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.
The cruelty is almost unconscionable.
Retaining the talent roster was an option. It was, in fact, not remotely a last resort. That's the true story here; WWE has exorbitant cash reserves, that aren't earmarked for salary expenditure, to the tune of $500M. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter estimates that WWE will save just $8M for the remainder of the calendar year on the cut talent. This has nothing to do with survival and everything to do with maintaining projected profit margins and stabilising the stock price. In the months ahead, depending on the severity of all this, such measures might have been somewhat necessary in a this is sh*t, but it's also capitalism sort of way.
This was rash. This was awful. This was Vince McMahon.
That $500M figure is reserved and guaranteed and doesn't factor in the revenue that continues to pile in. WWE lost money running house shows and had reduced the loop before this all developed. WWE is not losing that revenue stream. They are losing TV and PPV gates, yes, but they represent a fraction of the TV rights fees.
This company, amid crisis, remains on course to enjoy its most lucrative year ever. They can celebrate on the dead dreams of the workforce that broke their backs to make it happen. It's a shame we canned No Way Jose.
We could do with his conga line!
